CHAPTER I.
After the opening of the legislative sessions, the emperor quitted Paris, and repaired to Bayonne. He arrived there on the 3d of November. It was his intention that the presumption of the Spanish generals should be encouraged by a strict defensive system until the moment, when the blow he was prepared to strike, could fall with the greatest effect. The precipitate attack at Zornosa displeased him, and he was also dissatisfied with the subsequent measures of the king. S.
Journal of the king’s operations, MS. He thought that the safety of Mouton’s division would be compromised between the armies of Blake and the conde de Belvedere. To prevent any accident, he judged it necessary that Bessieres should advance with the whole of the second corps to Burgos; that marshal Victor should march by Amurio to Valmaceda; and that marshal Le-Febre should immediately renew his attack on that position, from the side of Bilbao. These dispositions were executed, and thus at the very moment when Blake was leading his harassed and starving troops back to Bilbao, two corps, amounting to fifty thousand men, were in full march to meet him, and a third had already turned his right flank, and was on his rear.
Captain Carrol’s Correspce.
The Spanish general advanced from Valmaceda on the 7th, and thinking that only fifteen hundred men were in Guenes, prepared to surround them. Two divisions making a circuit to the left, passed through Abellana and Sopoerte, with a view to gain the bridge of Sodupe, in the rear of Guenes, while two other divisions attacked that position in front; the remainder of the army followed at some distance. The advanced guard of the 4th corps was in Guenes, and after an action of two hours, the Spaniards were thrown into confusion; but the night saved them from a total rout. The same day, one of their flanking divisions was encountered and beaten near Sopoerte, and the retreat of the other being intercepted on the side of Abellana, it was forced to make for Portagalete General Leith’s Correspce. on the sea-coast, and from thence to St. Andero. Blake’s eyes being now opened a little to the peril of his situation, he resolved to retreat to Espinosa de los Monteros, a strong mountain position, two days’ march in the rear; intending to rest his troops there, and to draw supplies from the magazines at Reynosa. Retreating during the night to Valmaceda, he gained Nava on the 8th, and finally reached Espinosa on the 9th. The remainder of Romana’s infantry came up during this retreat, and the whole army was, with the exception of the division cut off at Abellana, concentrated in a strong position, which covered the intersection of the roads from St. Andero, Villarcayo, and Reynosa.
Napoleon, accompanied by the dukes of Dalmatia and Montebello, quitted Bayonne the morning of the 8th, and reached Vittoria in the evening. He was met by the civil and military chiefs at the gates of the town; but refusing to go to the house prepared for his reception, he jumped off his horse, entered the first small inn that he observed, and calling for his maps, and a report of the situation of the armies on both sides, proceeded to study the plan of his campaign.
The first and fourth corps, after uniting at Valmaceda, had separated again at Nava on the 9th, Victor pursuing the track of Blake, and Lefebre marching upon Villarcayo by Medina. The second corps was concentrating at Briviesca, the third corps occupied Tafalla, Peraltes, Caparosa, and Estrella. The sixth corps, the guards, and the reserve, were distributed from Vittoria to Miranda, and a division, under the command of general La Grange, was at Guardia, connecting the positions of the third and sixth corps. The fifth corps was still behind the frontier, and the eighth composed of the troops, removed from Portugal by the convention of Cintra, was marching from the French sea-ports, where it had disembarked.
On the Spanish side, the conde de Belvedere was at Burgos, Castaños and Palafox, unknowing of their danger, were planning to cut off the French army, and Blake was flying to Espinosa. The English army were scattered from Coruña to Talavera de la Reyna.
In two hours the emperor had arranged his plans. Moncey was directed to leave a division in front of Pampeluna, to observe the Spaniards on the Aragon, to concentrate the remainder of the third corps at Lodosa, and to remain on the defensive until further orders. Lagrange was reinforced by Colbert’s brigade of light cavalry from the sixth corps, and directed upon Logroña. The first and fourth corps were to press Blake without intermission. The sixth to march towards S.
Marshal Soult’s Operations, MSS. Aranda de Douero. The duke of Dalmatia was appointed to command the 2d corps, and ordered to fall headlong upon the conde de Belvedere. The emperor, with the imperial guards and the reserve, followed the movement of the second corps.
These instructions being issued, the enormous mass of the French army was put in motion with a celerity that marked the vigour of Napoleon’s command. Marshal Soult having departed on the instant for Briviesca, arrived there at day-break on the 9th, received the second corps from the hands of Bessieres, and in a few hours, the divisions composing it were in full march for the terrace of Monasterio, which overlooks the plains of Burgos. Head-quarters were established there, and, during the night, general Franceschi’s brigade of light cavalry took the road of Zaldueño to Arlanzon, having orders to cross the river of that name, and descending the left bank, to cut the communication of the Spaniards with Madrid, and to prevent them from rallying at the convent of the Chartreuse, if defeated near Burgos.
At four o’clock on the morning of the 10th, the French were in march from Monasterio, and at six o’clock general Lassalle’s cavalry reached Villa Fria. The conde de Belvedere, being informed of their approach, posted the Spanish army at Gamonal, and taking four thousand infantry, eight guns, and the whole of his cavalry, fell upon Lassalle. The latter skirmished for a while, and then following his orders, retired slowly to Rio Bena. At eight o’clock, the French infantry, which had advanced by two roads, was reunited at this town, and immediately pushed forward on Villa Fria. Belvedere was soon driven back upon Gamonal, and the Spanish army was discovered in line of battle. The right occupied a wood, leaving a clear space of some extent between it and the river Arlazon. The left was posted in the walled park of Vellimer. Thirty pieces of artillery covered the front, and seven or eight thousand armed peasants were arrayed on the heights, immediately behind the regular troops. These latter amounted to eleven thousand one hundred and fifty infantry, and eleven hundred and fifty cavalry, following a field state of their numbers, found after the action. This was the best army at that time S.
Journal of Operations, MS. in Spain; it was composed of the Walloon and Spanish guards, the regiments of Mayorca, Zafra, and Valencia de Alcantara; the hussars of Valencia, the royal carbineers, and some volunteers of good families. It was completely equipped, and armed principally from the English stores; but its resistance was even more feeble than that made by the half-famished peasants of Blake’s force.
BATTLE OF GAMONAL.
General Lassalle, with the light cavalry, led down upon the Spanish right, and filled the plain between the river and the wood. At the same moment the Spanish artillery opened along the whole of their line, and the French infantry formed in columns of regiments arrived. Mouton’s division, composed of old soldiers, broke at once into the wood at a charging pace. General Bonnet followed closely, but so rapid and effectual was the assault of Mouton’s veterans, that Bonnet’s troops never fired a shot. The Spaniards fled in disorder, the left wing, although not attacked, followed the example of the right, and the whole mass, victors and vanquished, rushed into the town of Burgos with extraordinary violence and uproar. At the same moment, Bessieres, who retained the command of all the heavy cavalry, passed at full gallop toward the Madrid road, where it crosses the Arlazon, sabring the fugitives, and taking all the guns which had escaped Mouton’s vehement attack; and on the other side of the river, Franceschi was seen to cut in pieces some Catalonian light troops stationed there, and to bar all hopes of flight. Never was a defeat more instantaneous, or more complete. Two thousand five hundred Spaniards were killed; twenty guns, thirty ammunition waggons, six pair of colours, and nine hundred men, were taken on the field. Four thousand musquets were found unbroken, and the fugitives were dispersed far and wide. Belvedere himself escaped to Lerma, where he arrived in the evening of the day on which the battle was fought. Meeting some battalions, principally composed of volunteers, on their march to join his army, he retired with them to Aranda de [Appendix, No. 15.] Douero during the night; but first, with true Spanish exaggeration, wrote a despatch, in which he asserted, that the French were repulsed in two desperate attacks; but that after thirteen hours hard fighting, they succeeded in a third.
All the ammunition and stores of the Spanish army were captured in Burgos; and the indefatigable marshal Soult, who was still upon the post-horse, which he mounted at Briviesca; not content with travelling from Bayonne to Burgos, taking the latter town, and gaining a decisive victory within the space of fifty hours; now rallied his corps, and detaching one column in pursuit on the side of Lerma, and another towards Valencia and Valladolid, marched himself with a third, on the very day of the battle, towards Reynosa, where he hoped to intercept Blake’s line of retreat to the plains of Leon.
Carrol’s Correspce.
This last-mentioned general reached Espinosa, as we have seen, on the evening of the 9th, with six divisions, including Romana’s infantry, who also dragged with them six guns of a small calibre. The separation of the fourth division at Abellana, the deserters, and the losses sustained in battle, had reduced the army below twenty-five thousand fighting men. The parc of ammunition and the artillery, guarded by two thousand infantry, were behind Reynosa, at Aquilar del Campo, on the road to Leon. Blake’s position was strong, and he hoped to remain in it for some days unmolested. His left wing, composed of the Asturians, and the first division, occupied some heights which covered the road of St. Andero. The centre, consisting of the third division and the reserve, formed a line across the road of Reynosa, which led through Ibid. Espinosa directly to the rear. The second division was established on a commanding height, a little on the right hand of the town; Romana’s infantry were posted in a wood, two miles in advance of the right; and the vanguard, with six guns, formed a reserve behind the centre of the position.
BATTLE OF ESPINOSA.
At two o’clock in the afternoon of the 10th, the head of marshal Victor’s columns drove back Romana’s infantry[18], and seized the wood; but the Spaniards, reinforced by the third division, renewed the combat. A second French column, however, opened its fire upon the Spanish centre, thus weakened by the advance of the third division; and at the same time some light troops ascending the heights on the left, menaced that wing of Blake’s army. The contest on the right was maintained with vigour, and the Spaniards, supported by the fire of the six guns in their centre, appeared to be gaining ground, when the night closed and put an end to the action, leaving the French in possession of the wood, and of a ridge of hills, which, at the distance of a cannon-shot, run parallel to the centre of the position. Generals St. Roman and Riquielmé were mortally wounded this day on the Spanish side.
At daylight the next morning, Victor, who had relieved his left with fresh troops during the night, renewed the attack. General Maison throwing out a cloud of skirmishers along the front of the Spanish centre and left wing, under cover of their fire, passed rapidly to his own right, and fell upon the Asturians and the first division. Blake, observing this movement, detached a column of grenadiers to reinforce the latter, and advanced in person with three regiments from the centre to take Maison in flank during his march. It was too late. Three Asturian generals fell at the first fire, and the troops of that kingdom fled without waiting for the enemy. They were soon followed by the first division, and Maison, continuing his course without a check, intercepted the line of retreat by St. Andero, and also that by the town of Espinosa. In the mean time, the French troops posted on the parallel ridge before spoken of, attacked the centre, and the division in the wood advancing against the right of the Spaniards, their whole army gave way in terrible confusion and distress, and crowded towards the river Trueba, which encircled the rear of the position. Some tried the fords, some rushed to the town, others fled to the right and left; but the weather was bad, the roads deep, the country rugged and difficult, and the overthrow was fatal. Those who escaped went to their own provinces, carrying dismay into the remotest parts of Gallicia, Asturias, Leon, and Castille. The guns, the baggage, and ammunition, fell into the hands of the French. Blake himself reached Reynosa on the 12th, and there rallied about seven thousand fugitives, but without arms, without spirit, and without hope.
The line of retreat by Aguilar del Campo, where his artillery remained, was still open to him; and he proposed to remain at Reynosa as long as the enemy would permit him; to restore order, and then to retire through Leon upon sir David Baird’s division, the head of which was now near Astorga. But his total ignorance of the French operations and strength again misled him. He looked only to the side of Espinosa, and already Soult’s cavalry was upon his line of retreat, and the duke of Dantzic was hastening by the valley S.
Journal of Operations, MS. of Villarcayo towards Reynosa. Upon the 13th, he was attacked by the advanced guard of the second corps, and being now utterly confounded, he fled with four or five thousand men through the valley of Cabuerniga, and took refuge at Arnedo, in the heart of the Asturian mountains. There the marquis of Romana joined him, and assumed the command of all that remained of the unfortunate army of the left.
Blake being thus disposed of, the fourth French corps, after a halt of a few days to refresh the troops, took the road of Carrion and Valladolid; but Soult recalling his detachments, concentrated the second corps at Reynosa, seized St. Ander, and captured a quantity of English stores; leaving a division there under general Bonnet, he then spread his columns over the whole of the Montagna, pursuing, attacking, and dispersing every body of Spaniards that yet held together, capturing their baggage, and filling all places with alarm. After some partial actions with unconnected parties, every thing military belonging to the patriots was driven over the snowy barrier of the Asturian hills; and Soult having left a detachment at St. Vincent de Barqueira, scoured the banks of the Deba, took the town of Potes, and overrun S.
Journal of Operations, MS. Leon with his cavalry as far as Sahagun and Saldaña. Meanwhile the duke of Belluno quitting Espinosa, joined the emperor, whose head-quarters were fixed at Burgos, after the defeat of Belvedere.
The battles of Espinosa and Gamonal, and the subsequent operations of marshal Soult, laid the north of Spain prostrate, and secured the whole coast from St. Sebastian to the frontier of the Asturias. By a judicious arrangement of small garrisons, and moveable columns, the provinces of Guipuscoa, Navarre, Biscay, and the Baston de Laredo were fettered; the communication of the army with France could no longer be endangered by insurrections in the rear; and the wide and fertile plains of Old Castille and Leon were thrown open to the French, and forbidden to the separated divisions of the British army. These great advantages, the result of Napoleon’s admirable combinations, the fruits of ten days of active exertion, obtained so easily, and yet so decisive of the fate of the campaign, prove the weakness of the system upon which the Spanish and British governments were at this time acting; if that can be called a system where no one general knew what another had done—was doing—or intended to do.
Burgos, instead of Vittoria, was now become the pivot of operations, and the right of his army being secured, the emperor prepared to change his front, and bear down against the armies of Castaños and Palafox, with a similar impetuosity; but it was first necessary to ascertain the exact situation of the British force. Napoleon believed that it was concentrated at Valladolid, and he detached three divisions of cavalry and twenty-four pieces of artillery, by Lerma and Palencia, with orders to cross the Douero, to turn the flank of the English, threaten their communications with Portugal, and thus force them to retire. It was soon discovered that the heads of their columns had not penetrated beyond Salamanca and Astorga, and that many days must elapse before they could be concentrated, and in a condition to act offensively. Certain of this fact, the emperor let loose his three divisions of cavalry, and eight thousand horsemen sweeping over the plains, vexed all Leon and Castille. The authorities showed no firmness; the captain-general, Pignatelli, fled in consternation; the people submissive and fearful, displayed no enthusiasm, and disconcerted by the rapid movements of the French, spread a thousand confused and contradictory reports. The incursions of the cavalry extended to the neighbourhood of Astorga, to Benevente, Zamora, Toro, Tordesillas, and even to the vicinity of Salamanca. Such was the fear, or the Sir John Moore’s Papers. apathy of the inhabitants, that thirty dragoons were sufficient to raise contributions at the gates of the largest towns; and after the overthrow of Espinosa was known, ten troopers could safely traverse the country in any direction.
The front of the French army being now changed, the second corps, hitherto the leading column of attack, became a corps of observation, covering the right flank, and protecting the important point of Burgos, where large magazines were establishing, and upon which the reinforcements continually arriving from France were directed. The exact situation of the other corps was as follows: The first corps, the guards, and a part of the reserve, were at Burgos; and Ney, with the sixth, occupied Aranda de Douero; the march of his force from the Ebro had been made with a view to intercept the army of Estremadura on the side of Madrid; but the sudden destruction of that body of troops having rendered this precaution useless, Ney was equally well placed to cut the communication of Castaños with the capital. General Lagrange occupied Logroña, and Moncey, with three divisions of infantry and his light cavalry, was at Lodosa. The Spanish army of the centre was consequently turned and cut off from Madrid even before Castaños was aware that the campaign had commenced.
In passing the mountains near Tolosa, marshal Lasnes, duke of Montebello, fell from his horse, and was left at Vittoria; his hurts were dangerous, but Baron Larrey’s Surgical Campaigns. a rapid and interesting cure being effected by wrapping him in the skin of a sheep newly slain, the emperor directed him to assume the command of Lagrange’s division and Colbert’s light cavalry, to unite them with the third corps at Lodosa, and to fall upon Castaños in front. At the same time he ordered Ney to ascend the course of the Douero with the light cavalry and two divisions of the sixth corps, to connect his left with the right of Lasnes, and to gain Agreda by the road of Osma and Soria, from whence he could intercept the retreat of Castaños, and place himself on the rear of the Spanish army. To support this operation, the first corps, and Latour Maubourg’s division of heavy cavalry being drawn from the reserve, proceeded by Lerma and Aranda, and from thence slowly followed the direction of Ney’s march. The emperor, with the guards, and the remainder of the reserve, continued at Burgos, the citadel was repaired and armed, magazines were formed, and arrangements made to render it the great dépôt of the army. All the reinforcements coming from France were directed upon this town, and proclamations were issued assuring the country people of protection if they would be tranquil and remain in their houses.
Ten days had now elapsed since Napoleon, breaking forth from Vittoria, had deluged the country with his troops, and each day was marked by some advantage gained over the Spaniards; but these misfortunes were still unknown at Tudela and disregarded at the capital. The remnants of Belvedere’s army having rallied in Mr. Stuart. Lord W. Bentinck. MSS. the pass of the Somosierra and on the side of Segovia, the troops belonging to the army of the centre, which had been detained in Madrid, were forwarded to the former place, and those left behind from Cuesta’s levies were ordered to the latter. General St. Juan, an officer of high reputation, took the command at the Ibid. Somosierra, general Heredia repaired to Segovia, and an intermediate camp of detachments being formed at Sepulveda, the men thus collected were, by the junta, magnified into a great army sufficient to protect Madrid.
That the left wing of the French army was still upon the Ebro, the central junta attributed, not to the enemy’s strength, but to the dilatory proceedings of Castaños, and depriving him of the command, they Ibid. gave it to Romana, precisely at the moment when it was impossible for the latter to reach the army he was to lead. The junta wanted a battle, and, uncorrected by Blake’s destruction, doubted not of victory.
The proceedings at Tudela were also worthy of the times; there the madness of the generals, and the folly of the deputy, increased rather than abated. The freaks of Francisco Palafox, and their ridiculous termination on the 12th of November, I have already related. A few days sufficed to give birth to new plans equally absurd, but more dangerous, as the crisis approached nearer. This time Castaños took the lead. He knew upon the 10th that the Estremaduran army was at Burgos, and that the French Castaños’ Vindication. were marching on that town; from that moment, despairing of the junction of the British army, and likewise of his own first and third divisions, which were in Madrid, he sent orders to Belvedere to unite himself with Blake; but his letters never reached that officer, who was defeated before they were written, and Castaños, feeling that he himself was in a dangerous position, and that some decided measure was required, conceived so extraordinary a plan, that it would be difficult to credit it upon any authority but his own. He proposed to carry the army of the centre, reduced in numbers and ill-disciplined as it was, by the Concha de Haro and Soria, towards Burgos, and to fall upon the emperor’s rear guard; and, as a preliminary Ibid. step, he determined to beat the army in his front; but Palafox had also a plan, of attacking Moncey on the side of Sanguessa, and the first measure necessary was to combine these double operations. It was agreed that Caparosa should be garrisoned by four thousand infantry, that the bridge head at that place should be fortified, and that O’Neil should be reinforced at Sanguessa by detachments Colonel Graham’s Correspce. MSS. from the centre until his force amounted to nineteen thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry. He was then to break down the bridge, place guards at all the passages on the Aragon, and by a flank march gain Caparosa, cross the river, and threaten Peraltes and Olite on the 17th; but on the 18th turning suddenly to the left to get in rear of Lodosa, while general La-Peña and Coupigny, marching from Centruenigo, should attack Moncey in front.
This great movement was openly talked of at the head-quarters of the Spanish generals for several days Ibid. before its execution, and these extraordinary commanders, who were ignorant of Blake’s disasters, announced their intention of afterwards marching towards Vittoria to lighten the pressure on that officer if he should be in difficulty, or if (as his despatches of the 5th had assured them) he was successful, then to join in a general pursuit. Castaños, however, concealed his real project, which was to move by the Concha de Haro towards Burgos.
It was found impossible to procure a sufficient number of boats to lay a bridge over the Ebro at Ibid. Alfaro: thus the reinforcements intended for O’Neil were forced to make a circuit by Tudela, and lost three or four days. On the 14th O’Neil arrived at Caparosa, after breaking the bridge of Sanguessa; the 15th the reinforcements joined him. On the 17th, the day appointed for the execution of the plan, Castaños received notice of his own dismissal from the command, but he persevered in his project; La-Peña and Coupigny were put in motion to pass the bridges of Logroña and Lodosa, and the fords between them; but general O’Neil, instead of executing his part, first refused to stir without an order from Joseph Castaños’ Vindication. Palafox who was at Zaragoza, and then changing his ground, complained that he was without bread. Castaños besought him to move upon the 18th, urging the necessity of the measure, and the danger of delay. But the deputy, Palafox, who had hitherto approved of the project, suddenly quitted the head-quarters, and went to Caparosa, from whence, in concert with O’Neil, he wrote to demand a farther reinforcement from the centre, of six thousand infantry and some more cavalry, without which, they affirmed, that it would be dangerous to pass the Aragon river. Castaños preserved his temper, invited the deputy to return to the right bank of the Ebro, and opposed the demand for more troops on the ground of the delay it would cause; but now the captain-general Palafox, agreeing with neither side, proposed a new plan. It is difficult to say how long these strange disputes would have continued if an umpire had not interposed, whose award was too strongly enforced to be disregarded.
Castaños’ Vindication.
Castaños was with the divisions of Coupigny and La-Peña at Calahorra on the 19th, when he received information that a French corps was advancing upon Logroña. It was Lasnes’, with Lagrange’s and Colbert’s troops, but the Spaniard concluded it to be Ney, for he was ignorant of the changes which had taken place since the 8th of the month. It was likewise reported, that Moncey, whose force he estimated at twelve thousand, when it really was above twenty thousand, had concentrated at Lodosa, and, at the same time, the bishop of Osma announced that twelve thousand men, under Dessolles, were marching from Castaños’ Account of the Battle of Tudela. the side of Aranda de Douero. On the 21st, the intelligence that Dessolles had passed Almazan, and that Moncey was in motion, was confirmed. Then Castaños, relinquishing his offensive projects, prepared to retire, and it was full time. For marshal Ney, who left Aranda on the 19th, had passed Almazan on the 20th, dispersed several small bands of insurgents, and entered Soria on the 21st, so that when Castaños determined to fall back on the 21st, his flank was already turned, and his retreat upon Madrid in the enemy’s power. His artillery was at Centruenigo, and a large detachment of his army was with O’Neil at Caparosa.
Castaños’ Official Account of the Battle of Tudela.
During the night of the 21st and 22d he retired to the heights which extend from Tudela by Cascante, Novellas, Taranzona, and Monteguda. The advanced guard of Lasnes was in sight of the Spanish rear-guard at Calahorra on the morning of the 22d. At this moment the only supply of money which the central junta had yet transmitted for the use of the army arrived at Tudela, and, to complete the picture of distracted councils, O’Neil refused to fall back from Caparosa without the orders of the captain-general. The latter, however, fortunately arrived at Tudela in person, and a conference taking place between him and Castaños the same day, they agreed that the Aragonese army should cross the Ebro, and occupy the heights over Tudela, while the rest of the troops should stretch away in line as far as Taranzona; but in defiance of all orders, entreaties, or reasoning, the obstinate O’Neil remained in an olive wood on the right bank of the river during the night of the 22d, leaving the key of the position open to the enemy.
A council of war was held, but the discussion was turbulent, and the opinions were discordant. Palafox Ibid, and his Vindication. insisted on the defence of Aragon, as the principal, or rather the only object to be attended to, and he wished the whole army to pass to the left bank of the Ebro, and confine its operations to the protection of Zaragoza on that side, a proposal which alone was sufficient to demonstrate his total incapacity for military affairs. Castaños reasoned justly against this absurdity, but the important moments passed in useless disputation, and the generals came to no conclusion.
In the meantime, marshal Lasnes, bringing with him a division of the sixth corps (Maurice Mathieu’s), which had just arrived from France, concentrated above thirty thousand infantry, four or five thousand cavalry, and sixty pieces of artillery, at Lodosa on the 22d, and marching by Alfaro, appeared, at eight o’clock in the morning of the 23d, in front of the Spanish outposts, close to Tudela, just at the moment when the Aragonese were passing the bridge and ascending their position. From forty to fifty guns were distributed along the front of the Spanish army, which, numbering about forty-five thousand fighting men, was extended on a range of easy hills from Tudela to Taranzona, a distance of more than ten miles. Two divisions of the army of the centre connected the Aragonese with the fourth division, which occupied Cascante. Three divisions were in Taranzona, and there were no intermediate posts between these scattered bodies. The weakness attendant on such an arrangement being visible to the enemy at the first glance, Lasnes hastened to make his dispositions, and at nine o’clock commenced
THE BATTLE OF TUDELA.
General Morlot, with one division, attacked the heights above the town. Maurice Mathieu, supported by the cavalry, of Lefebre Desnouettes, assailed the centre, and general Lagrange advanced against Cascante. The whole of the artillery followed the columns of attack. The Aragonese resisted Morlot with vigour, and even pressed him in the plain at the foot of the hills, but Maurice Mathieu having gained possession of an olive wood, and a small ridge which was connected with the centre of the Spanish position, after some sharp fighting pierced the line, and Lefebre, breaking through the opening with his cavalry, wheeled up to his left, and threw the right wing into hopeless confusion. The defeated soldiers fled towards the bridge of Tudela, pursued by the victorious horsemen. In the meantime La-Peña, descending from Cascante with the fourth division, drove in Lagrange’s advanced guard of cavalry, and pressed forward briskly; but being met at a charging pace by the infantry, was beaten, and fell back to Taranzona, where three divisions remained during the whole of the action, which, strictly speaking, was confined to the heights above Tudela. Palafox, with the right wing and the centre, fled to Zaragoza with such speed that some of the fugitives are said to have arrived there the same evening.
When La-Peña was driven back upon Taranzona, the four divisions of the left wing commenced an orderly retreat towards Borja, but some cavalry, detached by Ney from the side of Soria, coming in sight, the Spaniards got into confusion; a magazine blew up, and in the midst of the disorder cries of treason were heard, the columns dissolved in a few moments, the road to Borja was covered with a disorganised multitude; and so ended the celebrated battle of Tudela, in which forty thousand men were beaten and dispersed by an effort that, being in itself neither very vigorous nor well sustained, was nevertheless sufficient for its purpose, and demonstrative of the incapacity of Spanish generals, and the want of steadiness in Spanish soldiers.
Eleventh Bulletin. Victoires et Conquêtes.
Several thousand prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, and all the ammunition and baggage, fell into the hands of the French, who rated the killed and wounded very high. The total loss may be estimated at eight or nine thousand men. Fifteen thousand escaped to Zaragoza; a detachment of two thousand, under the Conde de Cartoajal and general Lille, left in the mountains of Nalda, were cut off by the result of the action, and two divisions, whose numbers were increased by fugitives from the others, were rallied at Calatayud on the 25th, but they were half starved and mutinous.
Castaños’ Account of the Battle of Tudela, and Vindication.
At Calatayud, Castaños received two despatches from the central junta, virtually restoring him to the command. For the first empowered him to unite the Aragonese army with his own; and the second, informing him that St. Juan was at the Somosierra, required his co-operation with that general to protect the capital. The battle of Tudela disposed of the first despatch, the second induced Castaños to march by Siguenza upon Madrid.
In the meantime, Napoleon, recalling the greatest part of his cavalry from the open country of Castille, left seven or eight thousand men in Burgos, and fixed his head-quarters at Aranda de Douero on the 23d. S.
Journal of Operations, MS. From the difficulty of transmitting despatches through a country in a state of insurrection, intelligence of the victory at Tudela only reached him on the 26th. Eleventh Bulletin. He was exceedingly discontented that Castaños should have escaped the hands of Ney. That marshal had been instructed to reach Soria by the 21st, to remain there until Lasnes should be in front of the Spaniards, and then to pass by Agreda, and intercept the retreat of the latter.
On the evening of the 21st, general Jomini and colonel D’Esmenard, staff officers of the sixth corps, arrived at Soria with an escort of eighty cavalry. That town is situated upon a rocky height, with a suburb below, and the conde de Cartoajal, who was retiring from the mountain of Nalda, happening to be in the upper part, the magistrates endeavoured to entrap the French officers. The latter were met at dusk by the municipality, and invited to enter the town with great appearance of cordiality; but their suspicions were excited, and the plan failed. Cartoajal marched during the night, and the next day the sixth corps occupied the place.
General Jomini, whose profound knowledge of the theory of war enabled him to judge accurately of the events which were likely to occur, urged Ney to continue his march upon Calatayud, without any rest; but the marshal, either offended with the heat of Jomini’s manner, or from some other cause, resolved to follow the letter of his instructions, and remained at Soria the 23d and 24th, merely sending out some light cavalry on the side of Medina Celi and Agreda. On the 25th he marched to the latter town; the 26th he crossed the field of battle, passing through Cascante. S.
Journal of Operations, MS. The 27th, he arrived, with one division, at Mallen, a town situated between Tudela and Zaragoza, his advanced guard being at Arlazon on the Zilo.
To the erroneous direction and dilatory nature of these movements, Castaños owed the safety of the troops, which were reassembled at Calatayud. Ney must have been acquainted with the result of the battle on the 25th, and it is remarkable that he should have continued on the road towards Agreda, when a single march by Medina Celi would have brought him upon the line of retreat from Calatayud to Siguenza. By some writers these errors have been attributed to Ney’s jealousy of marshal Lasnes; by others it has been asserted that the plunder of Soria detained him. The falsehood of the latter charge is evident from the fact, that, with the exception of a requisition for some shoes and great coats, no contribution was exacted from Soria, and no pillage took place at all; and with respect to the former accusation, a better explanation may be found in the peculiar disposition of this extraordinary man, who was notoriously indolent, and unlearned in the abstract science of war. It was necessary for him to see, in order to act; his character seemed to be asleep until some eminent danger aroused all the marvellous energy and fortitude with which nature had endowed him.
The success at Tudela fell short of what Napoleon had a right to expect from his previous dispositions, but it sufficed to break the Spanish strength on that side, and to lay the kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre, and the province of New Castille, as bare as the northern part of Spain was laid by the victory of Espinosa. From the frontiers of France to those of Portugal, from the sea-coast to the Tagus, the country was now overwhelmed. Madrid, Zaragoza, and the British army, indeed, lifted their heads a little way above the rising waters, but the eye looked in vain for an efficient barrier against the flood, which still poured on with unabated fury. The divided, weak state of the English troops led the emperor to conclude that sir John Moore would instantly retire into Portugal. Lasnes he commanded to pursue Palafox, to seize the important position of Monte Toreño, to summon Zaragoza, and to offer a complete amnesty to all persons in the town, without reservation, thus bearing testimony S.
Journal of Operations, MS. to the gallantry of the first defence. His own attention was fixed on Madrid. That capital was the rallying point of all the broken Spanish, and of all his own pursuing divisions, and it was the centre of all interests, a commanding height from whence a beneficial stream of political benefits might descend to allay, or a driving storm of war pour down to extinguish, the fire of insurrection.